My answer is I've been here since the start and never left.

 

When people ask questions like this I think what are they doing a Marketing Survey or a School Project or something ?

 

[What was] your first experience with transformers?
My dad bought me a Thundercracker when he went to town one morning. The year was 1984.

How [did] you got into back to collecting?
In 1999, my parents and I moved into a new house. My new bedroom had shelves installed to utilize otherwise wasted wall space. I got the idea of taking my G1 Transformers out of storage to display them. The moment I unpacked my tote is when I consider I got back into collecting.

 

I was more of a fan of the UK comics than the cartoon, though I really liked Transformers: The Movie.

The original toys were not quite what I hoped they would be. It took me while to realise Ironhide didn't have a proper face, and most toys lacked satisfactory poseability. My favourites were the Dinobots, Jetfire and Optimus Prime.


I didn't start collecting again until I walked into Toys'R'Us one day and saw boxes of Armada Unicron sitting on the shelves. I grabbed one immediately. I've collected quite a few TFs since then (The Classics/Generations ones are exactly what I wanted when I was a kid) until the live-action movies came out.

I prefer to collect Transformers based on my favourite characters.

 

Summer 2010 I was in the comic shop and bought a legends Long Haul. This was my first Transformer and only experience with the whole thing since maybe seeing 20 seconds worth of one show back in the 80's. Anyway, I took it to work and it sat on my desk getting put back and forth from bot to alt mode until the holiday season. At that time I was in Walmart and saw the voyager version of the toy...which I had no idea existed. Got that and it's been a downhill slide ever since.

 

Was bought the UK comic 1st issue, loved it and started collecting the next week. Ravage and Rumble twin pack, the rest followed...happy days! Stopped after micromasters came out, and bought nothing for 20 years but Alternators Smokescreen started up the obsession again and now can't stop......

 

My parents bought me many transformers through the 80's, but the gradually shifted to the Ninja Turtles by the 90's. I remember really wanting an Optimus Prime back then and my parents came home with Powermaster Prime. I told them that wasn't the one I wanted, but I would take it anyway. He turned out to be my favorite toy from my childhood.

I got back into collecting around 2001 and bought a few of the left over Beast stuff and some RiD. I really kicked it up in 2003 when I got out of high school and got a job at Walmart. I eventually worked my way to being a department manager in 2005 of the toy dept, and it all went downhill from there. I normally bought every transformer release at retail while working there, but never considered myself really into them as I was more into McFarlane's Spawn/Monsters/Movie stuff. I left Walmart in late 2007 to work where I still currently work, but I've still continued to collect even after leaving the retail scene.

 

First off, I had a ton of Transformers as a kid. My parents sold them all to teach me how to grow up.

Years later...

I happened to walk into a TRU on a very hot summer day on a brief vacation from college.

There on the shelf was Commemorative Reissue Ultra Magnus and Rodimus Major.

I was like...this is happening. This is happening right fucking now. Took them up to the counter and the price was...ABSURD. (or so I thought at the time)

Convinced them that the figures were mismarked and walked out with Ultra Magnus for like $30. BTW, I was wrong, they were absurdly priced.

After buying Magnus I just HAD to have some figures to go on his trailer...

Then some of his pals.

Then some of his enemies...

and oh fuck, I wasted my life (picture related):

(me just prior to our last move... Not appearing in picture: More crates of Transformers)

 

It was the year 2006, I had 1 or 2 KOs, A few armarda and Energon happy toys and then I bought my first ever proper TF, Cybertron Landmine.

 

My first experience with Transformers was on a Sunday morning in 1984. I was watching the Commander Tom show and I saw the very first airing of the very first episode. I was instantly a fan. Being a child I had a few of these very expensive toys but never got the big boys that I always dream about. My collection was tiny and eventually I grew out of Transformers and pretty much forgot about most of them. They became a memory of my youth.

Fast Forawrd to December 95. At this point I stumbled up on a commercial for some show about animals TRANSFORMING into robots. The show was called Beast Wars but it had Transformers attached to it. This one commercial brought back a flood of memories. I recall telling my friends about what I just saw but between catching the commercial half way through and not knowing much about TFs anymore I had little to go by.

That Christmas season I worked at TRU stocking the Boys Toys section. I saw Primal and Megs and decided I would by them for nostalgic reasons. But at this point I saw BW and fell for Rattraps character and bought him as well. Well how fair is it having 2 bots (maximals) vs 1 con (predicons) and so began my weak excuses to continue buying more and more.

From that point on I have been a full time Transformers collector and only recently have stopped buying EVERY line out there (Thank you Michael Bay) and will be reducing the size of my collection.

All in all was a fan from day one and will be a fan and collector until the end.

 

I'm 35 so I grew up with G1! I didn't have many Transformers but I had enough. Around 96 I picked up a few more G1 toys but I didn't have enough money to really get back into Transformers.

Late in 04 I got 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime (For $25 no less!), I was amazed with it! I couldn't believe what I was playing with. It was everything I could ever imagine a transformer could ever be. Then in 05 I got a BT Sideswipe and that was it. I hunted all the Alt/BT's I could find!

 

What was your first experience with transformers?
My first experience with Transformers toys were the G2 bots - figures such as Hero Optimus Prime, Hero Megatron, Inferno, and Slag. I would watch the animated movie on rerun constantly and watch the "G2" episodes when I could.

How did you got into back to collecting?
I never really left. There was downtime when I was growing up where girls and friends took up a majority of my time, but I never stopped loving and collecting Transformers. If there was a point that took me over the edge it'd probably be the Classics line and my first trip to BotCon in 2009.

 

I remember when I was about 4 that G1 used to be on so I would watch that. When I was 6, Beast Wars began and my first ever Transformer was Rattrap   I ended collecting most if not all of the Beast Wars and Beast Machines lines. This love for Transformers continued into RID and Armada, but then it died off a bit with Energon and Cybertron.

What got me back into Transformers was the 2007 Movie and I just was amazed with the Transformers that were coming out. I bought everything I could get when ROTF came out, including Hunt for the Decepticons, Reveal the Shield, and Generations. I began a true collection of Transformers with the Movies.   I think my favorite line now is the Prime line...a lot of fun. I've also been collecting Masterpiece figures and Third Party Items. It's a good time to be a TF fan!

 

I started with the G1 cartoon and toys back in 84 or so, then stopped shortly after the '86 movie. Started again in 2010 with WfC.

 

My first expierience was getting one of the Rhinomation Armada DVDs and being in awe at the show and then I got Armada Hot Shot and in the middle of the Energon era, I got two DVDs of the show as well as the leader sized Megatron and I haven't stopped until maybe around 2009 before ROTF hit mass retail. I got back into Transformers back in the beginning of June in 2011and I was randomly in the mood to watch the '86 movie on the 20th anniversary DVD and I watched it, loved it, kinda considering to get back into Transformers. A couple of weeks later, I was going to a Borders to get a comic but I came too late so I just decided on a Walmart to see what Transformers they got there and once I saw Generations Dirge, I snagged him and bought him. I was then hooked once again while also learning about what I missed and also stuff that I didn't know about.

 

Can't remember what my first experience was but the most vivid was getting prime for x-mas in 84. He may have been my first TF but I was 4 years old then so that's pretty damn hard to remember  

Alternators got me back into collecting 20 years later around 2004. A friend brought one to work to show me and I was hooked after that.

 

My first experience with Transformers was when my dad showed me recorded episodes of Beast Wars and Beast Machines, my interest caught hold when the RID series came out.

After the series ended, my interest in Transformers started to fade away. The Armada and Energon Series never caught my interest but, when the Cybertron series came out, my interest slowly rose. When the 07 TF Movie came out, my interest came back at full force. Now I'm waiting for the Prime line to come out.

 

Super short version: Watched hand-me-down tapes of Season 1/86 Movie as a child, read the original Marvel comic and got a lot of Micromasters/Action Masters (and later on G2) as a kid. Stuck around picking up random stuff through Beast Wars, but only here and there. Got a couple RiD toys but never watched the show. Tried to get back in with Armada but was too proud to admit to liking the show. Basically ignored TFs from the start of Armada until Cybertron, 20th Anniversary Prime and Alternators had re-ignited a bit of the toy buying bug, Cybertron expanded on it, and I haven't slowed down since.

 

That's awesome dude! Many of us can relate!

What was the "absurd" price on the TRU Ultra Magnus and Rodimus Major? I thought the price was $30 or $40 back then around 2002, right?

 

I'm pretty sure Hot Rod was around $30 even in that tiny box, and Magnus was $60, maybe $50. Commemorative Series was expensive if you didn't wait for clearance.